Graduate Fellowship Opportunity

Alvin and RosaLee Sarachek
Predoctoral Honors Fellowship in Molecular Biology

About Ginny Antony, 2009 Sarachek Scientific Travel Award Recipient

Ms. Ginny Antony is a doctoral candidate under the mentorship of Dr. Frank White in the Department of Plant Pathology. Her doctoral dissertation involves the isolation and characterization of genes involved in the interaction between rice and its bacterial pathogen Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae. Her research probes the differences between rice plants with different specific resistance genes, and has shown that different virulence factors in the pathogen trigger different defense responses in the plant. She is isolating and characterizing the dominant disease resistance gene Xa7 from rice. This unique plant gene is involved in the detection of the pathogen, and, upon induction, triggers host cell death. Future research will involve the characterization of the interaction of the virulence factor (AvrXa7) with the Xa7 promoter, and confirming the identity of the Xa7 locus in transgenic rice plants.

Ms. Antony has co-authored two publications in top tier journals in her field and two methodological techniques in The Plant Health Instructor. Since joining the Ph.D. program in Plant Pathology in KSU in 2004, Ms. Anthony has maintained a perfect 4.0 GPA, received the Don C. Warren Scholarship in Genetics, and presented papers at national and international meetings. She plans to use the travel funds she has been awarded to attend the 2009 American Phytopathology Society meeting in Portland, OR and the Xanthomonas Genomic Conference at Pingree Park, CO.

About Xin Deng, 2009 Sarachek Scientific Travel Award Recipient

Mr. Xin Deng is a doctoral candidate in Genetics under the mentorship of Dr. Xiaoyan Tang. His dissertation research focuses on the regulation of the Pseudomonas syringae Type III Secretion System (TTSS) which is critical for diseases caused by bacterial pathogens on plants. He identified mutants in the bacteria that were non-pathogenic and that failed to activate the TTSS system. He has identified several proteins involved in the regulation of the TTSS genes. He has characterized a regulatory DNA sequence with which one regulatory protein interacts to.

Mr. Deng has co-authored three manuscripts describing his work in the journal Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions, the leading journal focused on the interactions between plant pathogens and their hosts, with an additional manuscript accepted for publication as well. Mr. Deng has presented his research at both national and international meetings. He wrote and received a grant from the North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program, Graduate Student Grant Program for $10,000 in 2008. He plans to use his travel grant to attend the Annual Meeting of the American Phytopathological Society in Portland, OR.